By Jonathan Sommer, Franklin High School’s The Franklin Post
In recent years, Portland has seen freezing ice storms which caused mass power outages, shut down roads and led to numerous fatalities. With rising rates of houselessness and poverty in the city, many Portlanders find themselves ill-prepared for winter, especially those who live outside. As the cold closes in, people who face housing insecurity are in need of support—but how do we support them?
Gus Kroll, a social service worker, may provide an answer. Kroll works at Transition Projects, a local organization focused on moving Portland’s houseless off the streets and into affordable housing. “I currently work at Transition Projects and I’m on the Board at Sisters of the Road,” Kroll says. “I’m not representing the official position for either but I’m someone who’s been doing this kind of work for a long time.” For those who face housing or financial insecurity, Kroll recommends connecting with direct service organizations, which provide resources and help face-to-face rather than connecting people to third parties. “Often they are going to be offering blankets, sweaters, sweatshirts, jackets…the kind of things people need to stay warm,” explains Kroll. He points to the People’s Store and PDX Saints Love as examples of these organizations. The People’s Store is a mobile mutual aid organization, while PDX Saints Love offers showers, haircuts and community meals. He recommends these groups due to their reliability, though he admits there is sometimes a lengthy process to get involved with the shelters.
Kroll believes in working to build a culture that supports its most disadvantaged members: “It’s wanting our society to be a place where if you or I were to end up in a situation [where we] need that help, [we could get it].” He emphasizes that with inflation and the ever-increasing wage gap, “we’re all three bad months from being homeless; none of us are three good months from being a billionaire. Look at the folks in Asheville, NC—a couple of months ago, they were fine. There were…local business owners who would have never imagined themselves now potentially living in a tent;…any one of our houses could collapse, [and] suddenly, we look a lot more like the folks living in tents along Powell than we do Jeff Bezos.”
Jeanne, who requested to go by first name only, volunteers with Feed The Streets and says the best way to keep folks warm this winter is “more shelters, shelters that accept animals, shelters that don’t place restrictions on people.” Despite their benefits, both Jeanne and Kroll mention the limitations of shelters; they aren’t a quick fix. Many shelters have their own requirements such as mandatory sobriety, and some shelters are single-sex or animal-free. “Sometimes a poor fit is no fit at all,” states Kroll.
Jeanne encourages people who want to help to speak up: “Insist—demand—that our leaders provide adequate, warm, dry shelter throughout the rainy, cold months, [and] STOP THE SWEEPS! People’s belongings are getting thrown away and they are losing shelter and clothing and blankets and all the things that keep them warm-ish in the first place.”
People often shy away from interacting with their unhoused neighbors. Houseless people are stigmatized and pushed to the corners of our urban world. “Treat them like a human. Don’t look away,” Jeanne says. “Give them food. Give them money if you don’t have food.” Kroll aims to break down the assumptions around housing insecurity and poverty. He remarks, “Of course, there are people who are living outside who are willing to turn to anything to make life feel a little less rough…even if it’s that brief high that comes with heroin [or] fentanyl.” However, he continues, “I’m not trying to romanticize people living outside with addictions; some of them are jerks. But good thing I don’t know anyone who lives inside who’s a jerk.”
Jeanne suggests donation as an easy way to support the cause: “Any organization that provides on-the-ground supplies and outreach could use money to feed and supply unhoused people.” Kroll highlights that organizations that work in this field are always low on resources. He advises donating “anything that you can imagine needing on a camping trip gone terribly wrong.” Kroll also offers his hands-on approach of donation: “I often [have] in my car a goodie bundle…I keep them in my [car’s] console. I usually put in them a pair of socks and a couple other useful items.”
Adam Moore, homeless services director for Union Gospel Mission of Portland, encourages support and understanding towards impoverished communities. “It can be overwhelming to see so many tents in Portland…I remind people that under that tent or blanket is a human being, and every human being has a right to dignity, love and respect…and to be helped. They’re our neighbors.”
So as winter arrives in the city, it’s up to people to decide how to best support their neighbors. Eyes turn to mayor-elect Keith Wilson, who promised to end unsheltered houselessness in the next year. Yet it’s also important to ask how regular citizens can make change this season.
Socks and gloves from Dollar Tree, which are cheap to buy and good to donate. Socks are one of the best things to donate this winter, as they frequently are destroyed by the wet and muddy conditions outside. Photo by Jonathan Sommer.
Tell me please, which of these “neighbors” should I give cash and provisions to first? The one who attempted to hack me to death with a machete for walking past him while he was on a meth-fueled bender? The one who decided he didn’t care for my presumed sexual orientation, and so threatened repeatedly to break my apartment windows and burn the building down and kill me and my partner and everyone else inside? The one to whom I did give shoes and socks, only to find him bare-foot three days later because he’d traded them for more doses of fetti? Or perhaps the one who overdosed, lethally, while hunkering down in a salvage-fort across the street while staffing the narcotics dealership in the derelict RV down the block from the nearest high school?
These are not hypotheticals, my actual neighbors and I have experiences all of this over the course of the last two years. I will not give them food. I will most certainly not give them money. And at this point I don’t even talk to them and do indeed avoid making eye contact, given I’m not particularly enthusiastic about finding myself the victim of another unprovoked assault. Because these are not neighbors, period. And I will no longer coddle those with a proven inclination to victimize me, my real neighbors, my community, and the city at large.
What I absolutely do support is shelters, as many as necessary, with assessments and services for all who enter those shelters. Precisely as our mayor-elect is promising. And, in extreme cases when necessary, involuntary commitment for rehab or the restoration of mental health. But anything else, including much of what is recommended in this article, is enabling public conduct that’s potentially deadly not just to those engaged in it, but to everybody in the vicinity. And it needs to stop.
Hi Jun,
Jonathan Sommer here, author of this article. I’m deeply disheartened to hear of your past experiences with unhoused folks. Sometimes, one bad apple can make you want to throw out the whole harvest. Let me preface: I am in no way attempting to excuse the behavior of those who pose real threats to our city: I whole-heartedly agree that we need to prioritize shelters which relocate these people into safer environments. Rehabilitation should also be a priority.
I will however ask you to consider this: these folks who are or are not mentally stable, sober, etc. are desperate for help. Stability, security, basic human rights which have been taken from them due to addiction or poor circumstance. Take your example of the man threatening to burn down your apartment. Do you truly believe he would do something so despicable unprompted? Or perhaps is the threat aimless and empty; merely a poor defense mechanism for someone so utterly defenseless?
For those rare (yes, rare) armed and high individuals, I do recommend steering clear. There are obvious signs which differentiate those who are safe to approach and those who aren’t, but trust your gut.
I will say this: do not contribute to the culture of fear and hate towards these people. They are down on their luck, beyond that even. They need empathy, understanding and respect. If you want to control them, rehabilitate them, then I suggest starting there. When you take an approach of avoidance and fear and hate, you’ll only get back the same.
Take care.
Thank you, Jonathan, for raising your voice on behalf of the many homeless people in Portland. The situation’s urgency calls for action, and your contribution to addressing it is inspiring. This is exactly what we need: compassionate High School students to awaken the consciousness of politicians and civic and corporate leaders.
Rev. Dr. Horacio R Da Valle